The Red Shoes
"The Red Shoes" (Danish: "De røde Skoe") is a short story for children by the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. It was first published in 1845. The main character in the story is a vain girl named Karen who thinks of nothing but her beautiful red shoes. Her shoes become cursed, she is forced to dance as long as she is wearing the shoes and finds that she is unable to remove them. A story within a story in the 1948 British movie The Red Shoes presents a ballet based on Andersen's tale. The story also inspired a 2005 Korean horror movie. Plot Karen is a girl from a very poor family. She wears rough wooden clogs in the winter and no shoes at all in the summer, until the village shoemaker gives her some shoes made from old pieces of red cloth. Shortly after she receives the shoes, Karen's mother dies. Karen wears the red shoes to her mother's funeral, even though they are quite unsuitable for such an occasion. An old woman sees Karen at her mother's funeral and takes pity on her. She takes the girl in and gives her an education. At first, Karen believes that the old woman took a liking to her because of her red shoes. In truth, the old woman hates the shoes and has them burned. A princess visits Karen's town. Karen notices that the princess wears red leather shoes and thinks that they are the most beautiful thing in the world. For her confirmation, Karen is taken by the old lady to buy new clothes and shoes. At the shoemaker's, Karen sees some red leather shoes like those that the princess wore. By this time, the old lady's eyesight has become very poor and she buys the shiny leather shoes for Karen, not knowing that they are red. During the ceremony, Karen pays no attention to the priest and thinks only of her shoes. The other churchgoers tell the old lady that Karen's shoes are red. The old lady tells Karen to wear black shoes to church in future. However, the following Sunday, Karen wears her red shoes to church again. An old soldier on crutches with a long red beard is standing, begging in front of the church. As Karen enters and leaves the church, he comments on her "pretty dancing shoes". When Karen hears his words upon leaving church, she cannot resist doing a few dance steps but then finds that she cannot stop dancing until she takes off the shoes. The shoes are put away but Karen cannot stop thinking about them. The old lady becomes seriously ill but Karen, reasoning that there is nothing that she can do to help the old lady, puts on her red shoes and goes to a dance. Karen finds that she cannot control her feet and that the shoes are making her dance in a direction in which she does not want to go. The shoes lead Karen out into the street and then into a forest. From a tree, the old soldier with the long red beard constantly repeats, "Look! What pretty dancing shoes!" Karen tries to take off the shoes but finds it impossible. The shoes lead Karen to a church. An angel, standing in the doorway, tells Karen that she will keep dancing until she shrivels up. She is told that she will serve as a warning to other vain children. Karen sees that the old lady has died but the shoes still force her to keep on dancing. She arrives at the house of an executioner and begs him to cut off her feet with his ax. The executioner agrees. He makes wooden feet for Karen, gives her crutches and teaches her a psalm of repentance. However, Karen's severed feet continue dancing without her. The girl returns to the church that she attended before but her severed feet appear dancing in front of her. Karen flees in terror. Karen takes up a position as a servant at the clergyman's house. She comes to truly repent her past behavior and is always saddened when she hears the clergyman's children talking about beautiful clothes. However, she is always too scared to join the clergyman and his family at church. One Sunday, the angel appears to Karen again to let her know that she has been forgiven. Karen dies of happiness and her soul goes directly to Heaven. External links *Text of Hans Christian Andersen's "The Red Shoes" in Danish and English on Wikisource. *Public domain audiobook of "The Red Shoes" on YouTube. *"The Red Shoes" on Sur la Lune Fairy Tales.com. es:Las zapatillas rojas Category:Childrens Books Category:Short Stories Category:Religion Category:Fantasy Category:Famous Category:Classic Category:Fairy tales